Page 151 of Rules

Jeanette and I are not the only ones the accident, and everything that followed, affected. Mom’s different too. And not just physically, but mentally as well. She’s more present, spending more time at home and less time with her friends shopping and drinking.

Jeanette’s accident, the possibility of losing her, shook her pretty badly, so for weeks she barely left her side. And she put more interest in our school, extracurricular activities and just… us. It’s weird. Before she was barely home, and now if either of us stays out a bit longer, she’s all over us.

“Something going on?” Jeanette asks, shifting the dog from one arm to another.

“I just wanted to check in.” Her fingers play with the pearls around her neck. Some things might have changed, but others are still the same. Socialites can soften around the edges, but at the end of the day, she’ll still have blue blood running through her veins. “Before I go out.”

I narrow my eyes at her, looking at her more carefully, trying to figure out the cause for her sudden nervousness. “Going somewhere special?”

“As a matter of fact, I am.” Blue eyes look at me. “I’m meeting your dad.”

I flinch back like she punched me. My stomach clenches uncomfortably, and the steel grip around my throat is back, making it hard to breathe.

“You’re doing what?” I all but roar at her, livid. Jeanette’s hand wraps around my bicep, her fingers digging at my skin as she pulls me back.

Mom lifts her chin in the air. I may tower over her, but she still has an air of superiority around her as she looks at me.

“Don’t you raise your voice at me, young man! I’m still your mother.”

I grit my teeth, but lower my voice. “What the hell are you meeting him for?”

Mom slicks a nonexistent runaway strand of hair behind her ear. “It’s time we sit down and talk.”

“What’s there to talk about? He’s a cheating bastard.”

“Max!”

“He’s still your father!”

Both women yell at the same time.

I give them a pointed stare, not backing down even a little. “I’m just speaking the truth! Don’t you dare forget that. You should be on my side, Jeanette. If it weren’t for him you wouldn’t have ended up in the accident.”

“There is no way of knowing that,” My sister’s eyes soften.

“Maybe, and I guess we’ll never know for sure, now will we?” I turn my attention back to my mother. “Besides, I thought this separation thing was temporary until things calm down and then you’d file for divorce.”

I haven’t talked to him since I accidentally answered his call soon after the accident. And if it were up to me, I wouldn’t talk to him ever again.

“It’s not as simple as that.”

“Looks pretty simple to me.”

Sighing, she looks at me. “We’ve been together for so long. We both made mistakes; this is not just your father’s fault. We are both at fault. We should have done better by you. Done better by us.”

“So you’re going to what… forgive and forget? Act like nothing has happened and move on?” I ask accusingly.

A part of me understands that it’s not just his fault. We are all responsible. Each of us played a part in what’s become of our family. Ignoring our problems and concentrating on ourselves when we should have been there for each other. Maybe if we had, maybe if we would have noticed some things earlier, all of this wouldn’t have happened.

But Dad has wronged the most. He cheated and lied. Tried to cover up his dirty little secrets so we wouldn’t find out while at the same time pretending everything is peachy.

I can’t forgive him.

I can’t forget.

His betrayal still runs hot in my blood. How can she just let it go? She should be pissed. She should be the one feeling angry and deceived the most.

“That is called life, Max. You can’t just give up at the first sign of problems. Look what happened when we tried to ignore them. Am I hurt? Yes, I am. Did I forgive him? I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to do that. But what Iamready to do is to sit down andtalk.Something we should have done years ago.”

---